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How TileMill Is Mapping Support of the International Justice System

[Amnesty International’s](http://www.amnestyusa.org/) latest campaign features a map front and center. The [Campaign for Global Justice](http://demandjusticenow.org/), launched this week on [International Justice Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Day_for_International_Justice), which celebrates the creation of the International Criminal Court 10 years ago, asks people to demand justice for the victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The map, integrated on the [campaign homepage](http://demandjusticenow.org/), tells the story of where these crimes — and their perpetrators — are located as well as countries’ support of the international justice system and payment toward reparations.

![](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7592711096_5931d32280.jpg)

##Technology Tells Stories

[Development Seed](http://developmentseed.org/) worked with Amnesty International’s team to design the map using our our open-source software [TileMill](http://tilemill.com), which we’ve written about [here before](http://184.73.194.104/idealab-mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=31&tag=tilemill). We trained their team on how to use TileMill and maps to tell the stories behind their future campaigns.

[Demandjusticenow.org](http://demandjusticenow.org/) is a great examples of how maps can be powerful tools to tell stories. We designed these maps with a narrative goal in mind. We created built-in navigation, walking viewers through Amnesty’s current work around the world and individual countries’ support of the International Criminal Court — shown through map layers visualizing data on support of actions and justice. The final layer, shown below, highlights gaps in donations to fund reparations.

![](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8424/7594776320_bea6e22a5c.jpg)

  1. Call to Action

The map also has a Twitter widget embedded so viewers can join the conversation and share the site — combining elements more typically seen in advocacy campaigns. Check out the [whole map](http://demandjusticenow.org/map/) to sign petitions demanding the arrest of [fugitives](http://demandjusticenow.org/fugitives/) and other opportunities to [demand justice](https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23demandjustice).

  1. Open-Source Mapping Tools

Almost everything we used to create this site is open source and well-documented — making it easy to dive into map design and storytelling. As mentioned above, the maps were made using [TileMill](http://tilemill.com), and are hosted on [MapBox](http://mapbox.com). We used one of our open-source [map site templates](http://mapbox.com/map-sites) to quickly build a wrapper for the maps, and enhanced zooming with the lightweight JavaScript library [Easey](http://mapbox.com/easey/). The interactive map was then embedded as an iFrame within the larger campaign site.

Documentation and how-to guides on all of these tools are available at [MapBox.com/help](http://mapbox.com/help/), and there’s a [support forum](http://support.mapbox.com/) you can hit up if you get stuck along the way.

David Johnson :David Johnson is a full-time professor of journalism at the American University School of Communication. He teaches courses in digital journalism, interactive storytelling and convergence media. His research interests include social networking and media, behavioral economics and serious games. He is the editor-in-chief of The American Observer, the school's online magazine. Johnson has been creating award-winning online content since the first graphical browsers were introduced in the early 1990s. Before coming to AU, he was chief technology officer of Scripps Media Center in Washington DC, home to Scripps Howard News Service. He is a founding member of the Media Bloggers Association and has blogged on the media at lostremote.com since 1999 and is now a contributor to the Poynter Institute's E-Media Tidbits blog. Johnson sits on the New Media Committee and Broadcasting Task Force at the National Press Club and consults frequently on niche and community site development.

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